Bill Clinton on Sunday called George Bush's character attacks on him "really sad" and said they had done nothing but heighten negative impressions of the president. Bush and Ross Perot kept a low profile while preparing for Monday's final debate showdown.
"He can't run on his record or his own vision for the future so all he can do is tear me down," the Arkansas governor said after attending services at a black church in Detroit. "But I don't think that the American people believe that four more years of that is what we need."As the candidates prepared for the three-way matchup, surrogates fanned out for the Sunday television news shows. Clinton aides spoke confidently of victory but, like their candidate, discouraged talk of a landslide. Bush surrogates predicted a historic comeback, while Perot's campaign coordinator noted his boss was the nation's only hope for the future.
"We think this election is very very winnable," Bush campaign manager Fred Malek said on CNN's "Newsmaker Sunday."
"I think this country is intelligent enough to recognize that if we have any hope for our kids and the future we've got to do something now," countered Perot coordinator Orson Swindle. "And I think the time has come."
Because of audience questions on domestic issues, Bush got little chance in Thursday's debate to attack Clinton.
But on Friday, Bush for the first time directly accused Clinton of evading the draft, and Clinton nodded when asked Sunday if he was bracing for Bush character attacks on Monday.
"I think the American people see it for what it is," Clinton said. "What he has done is to drive up his own negative numbers, you know, and to invite people to talk about his own character. It's been really sad to me. I'm not worried about it."
With Election Day 15 days away, more and more newspapers were making their endorsements.
Backing Clinton were The Saint Paul Pioneer Press of St. Paul Minn., The Milwaukee Journal, Newsday of New York, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Anchorage Daily News and The Oregonian of Portland, Ore., which broke a 142-year history of endorsing Republicans for president.
Endorsing Bush were The Chicago Tribune, and The Daily Oklahoman of Oklahoma City.